Growing Businesses

Since 1932, the Saint Paul Port Authority has been promoting industry and commerce. The Port Authority has cleaned up 2.1 square miles of polluted property, now the homes of 555 companies, and 24,000 employees. The Port Authority always has an inventory of commercial/industrial property it is looking to sell or lease to a business seeking to expand or move into the East Metro Area. The Port Authority also has many financing programs, one of the more notable are the energy saving programs that have resulted in over $15 million dollars of capital investment in energy savings equipment, more than 500 billion Trillion Btu’s in energy savings, and the additional financial plus for the company is that usually utility cost reductions usually cash flow payment of the loan.

Our partners are vital to our success. Every project we take on requires funding from — and the cooperation of — many public and private groups that invest in the East Metro’s economic health. Each partner lends expertise, time and talent to the mix to clean up the polluted sites. In turn, those sites attract millions of dollars in additional private investment to create new jobs and expand the property tax base. We also help companies finance their business growth. One of our partners, the U.S. Cluster Mapping Project is a national economic initiative that provides over 50 million open data records on industry clusters and regional business environments in the United States to promote economic growth and national competitiveness. The project is led by Harvard Business School’s Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness in partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Economic Development Administration.

Regional economies are the building blocks of U.S. competitiveness. The nation’s ability to produce high-value products and services depends on the creation and strengthening of regional clusters of industries that become hubs of innovation. Clusters, which are regional concentrations of related industries, are a striking feature of all modern economies, making regions uniquely competitive for jobs and private investment. Harvard’s Dr. Michael Porter stressed the synergy of clusters and a healthy economy at a 2014 conference in Minneapolis. Here is his presentation.

The Port Authority continues its original mission to promote river shipping and river commerce. In 2013, 5,273,301 tons of materials flowed in and out of the Port Authority’s four operating River Terminals, accounting for approximately $1.14 billion of commerce. For more than 75 years the Saint Paul Port Authority has contributed to the East Metro’s economic growth. Through its unique transactional expertise, the Port assembles parcels of polluted or underutilized inner-city land, cleans them up for redevelopment, and then sells them — usually for $1 — to expansion-minded businesses.

For more information about the Saint Paul Port Authority and its products please call Bruce Gehrke at 651-204-6238, or email him at bhg@sppa.com, or Brenda Kyle at 651-204-6241 or by email at blk@sppa.com, or Lee Krueger at 651-204-6226, or by email at ljk@sppa.com.

“Clearly, the Port understands how manufacturers operate, and they know how to develop buildings that work for companies like ours. …This facility represents Matsuura’s fundamental commitment to delivering a best-in-class experience for our customers.”